Nasi Goreng

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After my Beef Penang Curry post the other day, I spent an entire day day-dreaming about our Malaysia trip and thought about all the foods I was exposed to and how much I regret not being more open to all of it. I was 21 at the time and although I already had an obsession with food, I was less adventurous and scared to try things.One thing I should’ve tried when I had the chance was Nasi Goreng. At the resort we spent the first week at, breakfast consisted of the normal “English” offerings and then a few Malay dishes were also on offer. One of them being Nasi Goreng.

Not knowing what on earth this was I always just looked over it and chose the usual croissants, fruit, eggs and bacon. I then saw people eating it in Kuala Lumpur and even though I liked the look of it, I was still very nervous to buy food from a street stall. I would jump at the chance to taste it now.

I’ve been seeing Nasi Goreng in quite a few magazines lately and decided to give it a try myself last week. I cheated by using ready-bought Nasi Goreng paste as making this yourself requires a list of ingredients as long as my arm and I just didn’t have the time or patience for that. I also chose to keep it vegetarian and omitted the chicken and prawns (sometimes pork is used as well). If you would like to include these, simply add the cooked chicken and prawns to the frying vegetables before you add the rice.

I really loved the spicy rice and vegetables flavoured with soy and fish sauce topped with a fried egg, its yolk oozy and sunshine yellow. Serve this with Ketchup Manis (a sweet and thick soy sauce) and extra freshly chopped chillies.

Being a general food freak has proven to be quite helpful in this career I've found myself in. Author of two cookbooks, photographer, food stylist. Mom to twins. Ex make-up and hair artist obsessed with beautiful clothes and spaces. I love a good G&T and I've been known to spend too much money on shoes.

nasi goreng is actually indonesian food not malay:)
hmm…I suggest you not to add chopping ginger to your nasi goreng.
what I usually use to my nasi goreng is just “chopped onion and garlic, chili, pepper, salt, a lil sugar, and kecap manis(soy sauce)

alternative options for paste:
blended dried chilies, onion and garlic (add little bit of olive oil and sugar when blending) … ketchup and soy sauce when frying the rice together with all the vegetables.

There are many types of nasi goreng..depending on the paste (can be instant or home made paste) you are using.

The easiest is you can just:
1) put some oil / olive oil / butter / margerine in a hot wok
2) fry onions and garlic until fragrant
3) add dried chillies and continue frying until become reddish
4) add vegetables and water. Allow the vegetables to cook until the water has evaporated.
5) add the cooked rice, soy sauce and fish sauce and stir to
mix everything.
6) Allow to fry for another 5 minutes and serve with a
fried egg on top.

YUM! would love a plate of nasi goreng with egg for breakfast right now. Stunning photos! In singapore, my mother usually just throws together what’s left over, sometimes chicken/duck or charsiew and scramble the eggs into the mix. (manis) means sweet in malay, so the maggie brand ketchup works and you could either add sugar or honey as you suggested to taste.

Hi Ally,
This looks really good. I saw a recipe in the August 2011 issue of Food and Home, but the list of ingredients put me off making it. The paste is a great idea! I’m motivated again. Where did you buy your paste? Thanks.